HT Correspondent
TEZPUR, March 29: A day long legal awareness programme to make people aware of the evils of child marriage was held at Puniani village in Sonitpur district on Tuesday. Organised by the Department of Law, Tezpur University in collaboration with the Puniani village gaon panchayat office, the event was participated by over 200 villagers.
Debajit Kumar Sarmah, assistant professor of the Law Department, extended a warm welcome to all the dignitaries and participants of the event. In his welcome speech, mentioning the event a part of the celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav of government of India, he further underscored the importance of awareness to prevent child marriage while speaking at the programme, Madhumita Acharjee, assistant professor of the Law Department, highlighted the legal consequences of participating in or facilitating child marriage.
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“It is important to recognise that child marriage is not just a cultural tradition or a matter of personal choice. It is a violation of children’s rights and is illegal,” she said.
Marzina Begum, president of Puniani gaon panchayat, Ajgar Ali, vice president of gaon panchayat, Jamsed Ali, village headman, and Mudassir Haque, gram pradhan, spoke about the need to work together to create a safe and healthy environment for children to grow and thrive.
Dr Priya Ranjan Kumar, head of the Department of Law, provided statistical data and discussed the legal implications of child marriage. He laid stress on the need to empower girls and young women through education and support their right to choose their own future to prevent child marriage from occurring. Angel Habamon Syiem, assistant professor of the Department of Law, was also present at the event.
The students distributed pamphlets among the villagers to raise awareness. Fourth-semester students of the Law Department, Suparna Deka, Violeena Borah, Ankita Chakravarty, and Achyut Arjun Barman, made presentations through posters and placards on definitions of child marriage, causes of child marriage, negative effects of child marriage, and laws to prevent child marriage, respectively.
The students also performed a skit. The event ended with a speech delivered by Bornali Sharma Baruah, a former member of JJB and a social worker. There was a question-and-answer session as well. Nadira Mustaq Rahman, an LLM student from the 2nd semester, offered the vote of thanks.
